Children with autism are developmentally delayed in following the direction of another person's gaze in social situations. A number of studies have measured reflexive orienting to eye gaze cues using Posner-style laboratory tasks in children with autism.
Autistic people often prefer to view inanimate objects over people interacting. This atypical gaze pattern may help clinicians flag autism before other traits appear. The average age of diagnosis in the United States is 4 years.
Gaze behavior (i.e., deciding where to look) can be considered a form of active sensing in that we choose to move our eyes to specific locations to sample useful information from a visual scene.
In previous studies, children with autism have been found to have unusually wide faces and wide-set eyes. The cheeks and the nose are also shorter on their faces (Aldridge et al., 2011).
Some people who have autism actively avoid eye contact and appear confused and anxious when it occurs. Some seemed to make eye contact relatively early but later reported they were actually looking at something that fascinated them (such as their reflection in one's eyeglasses).
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently avoid making eye contact, and now scientists think they know why.
A tendency to avoid eye contact is an early indicator of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and difficulties with eye contact often persist throughout the lifespan. Eye contact difficulties may underlie social cognitive deficits in ASD, and can create significant social and occupational barriers.
Some studies have found that people with autism have difficulty with saccades, the rapid eye movements that occur when a person shifts his or her gaze from one point to another.
When a child or teen with autism is stared at, it's usually because s/he is displaying some type of social behavior that deviates from what society thinks of as normal. Usually, a person with autism does not appear different from others. (Although wearing headphones for noise reduction can attract attention).
People with autism sometimes may have physical symptoms, including digestive problems such as constipation and sleep problems. Children may have poor coordination of the large muscles used for running and climbing, or the smaller muscles of the hand. About a third of people with autism also have seizures.
There are several technologies that can be used for eye gaze tracking, including infrared eye tracking, which uses infrared light to detect eye movements, and video-based eye tracking, which uses a camera to track eye movements.
The nine gazes are: straight ahead, left, right, straight up, up and to the left, up and to the right, straight down, down and to the left, down and to the right.
One sign of autism is staring spells. That can also be a form of epilepsy, an absence seizure. But an Australian study of children referred for these episodes showed EEGs offer little diagnostic benefit.
Staring spells
These episodes occur in children of any age, but are common in children with autism. The spells may look like day dreaming or inattention, but are often redirectable. Often, the events are behavioral or related to frontal lobe processing.
Children can be misdiagnosed as having Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and not actually be autistic. It is concerning enough for a parent to be told their child is on the Autism Spectrum, but for a child to be misdiagnosed as having autism can cause unnecessary stress and worry for the family.
People with ASD often have problems with social communication and interaction, and restricted or repetitive behaviors or interests. People with ASD may also have different ways of learning, moving, or paying attention. It is important to note that some people without ASD might also have some of these symptoms.
Researcher Warren Jones said: “They're looking less at the eyes not because of an aversion to making eye contact, but because they don't appear to understand the social significance of eye contact.” Alongside other factors, reduced eye contact is a well-known symptom of autism and is used in diagnosing the condition.
The new research, conducted on the day when children were first diagnosed, shows that young children with autism do not actively avoid eye contact, and it confirms that other people's eyes are not aversive to young children with autism.
A child could have mild symptoms of autism, but parents and guardians should still take proactive steps to seek a diagnosis. When a child has autism spectrum disorder (ASD), caregivers can work with professionals to develop appropriate strategies in response.
In many cases, children with autism are known to have sensory issues. This could possibly be one of them. As a result of the greater stimulation they receive from eye contact, they end up shying away from it, creating the commonly observed phenomenon of autistic individuals avoiding eye contact.
Wearing headphones can serve as a way for autistic people to feel in charge and self-assured. Not only does this feeling of ownership provide a sense of security, but it also gives them the freedom to regulate their listening environment and block out auditory distractions in order to reduce sensory stressors.
1. Eye contact: Avoidance of eye contact is ADHD behaviour – your child/young person may look as if they are ignoring you but some find making eye contact really difficult.
With eye contact, there's a three second rule. If you hold someone's gaze for longer than three seconds, you enter a situation known as "kiss or kill". Longer eye contact signals one of two things - either you are attracted to the person or you want to attack them.
Normal gaze results
A patient with normal gaze ability will produce a tracing that is virtually a straight line once the eyes are fixated on the target. The right eye is represented by the red line and the left eye by the blue line.